Go ahead, sell your Apple Stock. The symbol is AAPL in case you have forgotten, if you do own some. Now that Steve Jobs has passed you're probably panicking and figure that without him the company he built twice will fall into mediocrity as it once did before. So go ahead run, abandon one of the few large companies that exists who's stated purpose for being is to do one thing: delight it's customers. Go ahead and give up on his vision, the one that states we have nothing to lose when we follow our hearts. I have always believed in Apple, from the day I bought my first IIc. So go ahead, quit on the dream that life can be a little more fun when our hearts and minds are engaged.
But I'm not giving up. I want Apple to be the strongest company on the planet. I want it to continue to shine some light on human excellence.
I don't believe in the religion of Apple, I haven't met many who actually do, but that's what the media would like you to think as they peck away on their awful drone boxes-- that we are mindless sycophants to the Gospel of Jobs. Is it a religion to say thank you to a company that actually takes our brief journeys on this earth seriously? That has decided to join us and make it better? Is that a religion or simple human decency expressed by people who have the talent to bring a smile to our lives? That to me is an act of kindness. The religion who's church I attend every Sunday also believes in acts of kindness.
Steve Jobs got the big picture and if there is one thing he taught his employees at Apple it is just that. What's the point of creating things that fall short or create frustration while stuck on hold in a faraway call center? Who does that? If you can do better and you don't, that's a betrayal. Companies like that don't care about you, or if they do, they have a funny way of showing it.
So I want Apple to thrive, not to make me rich, because as I said I am not selling, but because I want how they do business to catch on. I want them to lead and teach the rest of this country how to at least try to do it right. I want other companies to delight their customers and actually care about what happens after the credit card is swiped.
You want a jobs program that actually works? Well there it is, embodied in every iPhone,iMac, iPod and iPad.
So go ahead, sell your Apple stock and give up on the future. Give up on the folks who have been working with Steve Jobs for 14 years creating a company that really really gets it. Give up on believing that vision can be taught, that we can change. Give up on an extraordinary life and believe we are doomed to settle for a life not worth living to it's best.
I haven't given up and I haven't given up on Apple.
To the Apple employees out there who I know are hurting: keep going for it. If you do, you are going to have some spectacular failures, but don't worry about Wall Street. Lately they have been destroyers not builders anyway. What you are doing they might not understand. Your goal is always to try to create something special. And in so doing, maybe you can teach us all a thing or two. You already have.
And one last thing-- thank you.

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